NUMA has innovated Whānau Ora services by introducing a forward-thinking data capturing service ‘Whānau Tahi’. This allows a more responsive approach to delivering ondemand services to our whānau. We partner with central Government Agencies including the Ministries of Health, Justice, Māori Development and Education.

Our connection to Māori and whānau is through our flaxroots services including education through Kura, broadcasting via Radio and Television, kanohi ki te kanohi with Whānau Ora programmes and initiatives.

NUMA and Whānau Ora

Whānau Ora in the North Island is funded by Te Pou Matakana – a NUMA initiative. It’s supported by Te Puni Kokiri with support from Ministries of Finance, Health and Social Development, Housing.

Whānau ora is a living breathing way of relating positively to our whānau. Whānau Ora is not a model of imposition, it is not a strategy of obligation but it is a process determined by each whānau to resolve issues, strengthen relationships according to their own specific circumstances.

Whānau Ora is about empowering whānau to be resourceful, resilient, whose members nurture each other, enabling happy, healthy lives. A whānau that has economic security and the ability to create its own wealth is a whānau that participates fully in society, and develops its own solutions to successfully deal with life’s challenges.

Whānau Ora shifts the focus from individuals to collectives, from sectoral interventions to inter-sectoral collaboration, from crisis intervention to capability building and from process indicators to measures of outcome.

Whānau Ora is a journey, not a destination, and is unique for all whānau. The achievement of Whānau Ora is the recognition that Māori must be able to live, act and associate as Māori. The initiative has both tangible solutions to immediate issues, as well as long term strategies to resolve complex entrenched problems. At all times Whānau Ora kaimahi walk the journey alongside whānau supporting and guiding appropriately and responsively.

NUMA and Restorative Justice

NUMA is one of the country’s leading provider of Restorative Justice Services, with programmes throughout the northern region. Restorative justice is a process for resolving crime that focuses on redressing the harm experienced by victims, while also holding the offender to account for what they have done.

The process involves the victim and the offender coming kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face) at a meeting called a restorative justice conference. This conference allows the victim to express how the offending has affected them, and allows all the people present to acknowledge the harm that has been caused.

The victim is at the heart of this process it gives them an opportunity – in a controlled environment – to explain to the offender how the crime has impacted on their life. Research shows that restorative justice can be very beneficial for victims, and can help with the often lengthy and painful process of moving forward after experiencing a crime.

There is no standardised process to outline how the conference should run but the intention is that the offender takes responsibility for their actions and apologises to the victim. The conference may conclude with the two parties discussing if there is anything the offender can do to work towards putting things right.

The 2011 Ministry of Justice Restorative Justice Victim Satisfaction Survey found that a large majority of victims felt the restorative justice conference had been of benefit to them: 77 percent of victims were satisfied with the overall experience of restorative justice; 74 percent felt better after participating in the process; and 80 percent would recommend restorative justice to other victims in a similar situation.

Often an agreement will be drafted after the conference. This agreement lists the actions or activities the offender has agreed to complete in order to take responsibility for his or her offending, including any action the offender will undertake to address the underlying causes for his or her offending.

Whānau Ora services are often employed at Restorative Justice conferences, particularly if health, financial or even kai (food) is critical for victim healing. Often, the offender requires and receives whānau ora services as well.

NUMA Reintegration Services: Out of Gate Services

NUMA are specialists in Kaupapa Māori Services. NUMA affiliated members have worked with prisoners and their whānau for over three decades. Its Kaiarahi are experienced in dealing with issues that need immediate care ie: accessing accommodation, processing documentation for identification, contacting whānau. The negotiation skills of Kaiarahi with WINZ, Corrections and Probation Officers to Police produce positive results for the recently released prisoner so they can get on with reintegration.

The values and principles employed by the Out of Gate team are based on manaakitanga, tautoko and awhinatanga. These traditions also shape the way Kaiarahi work with the Prisoners immediate and extended whānau. Before Prisoners are released, to when they are out of the gates and then back into the community, NUMA Kaiarahi travel the journey of reintegration. NUMA has also established short term accommodation called Whare Manaaki and is in South Auckland.